Companies and checking accounts
Recent patterns show European banks paying modestly higher rates on new term deposits, while Spanish lenders kept some openings tighter in August. Across the euro area, average new term deposits subscribed in August hovered around 3.03%, a tick up from July’s 2.83% and marking the first time above 3% since early 2012 during the euro crisis. This shift followed the European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to raise rates to curb inflation. Spanish institutions, however, narrowed the initial deposit yields in August, moving from about 2.33% to 2.31% in July, widening the gap versus the European average. Data from the ECB and the Bank of Spain show the spread widened by roughly 0.5 to 0.72 percentage points. (ECB data, Bank of Spain)
Historically, the disparity between Spain and the eurozone in deposit remuneration has been modest. Since 2003, the gap has typically been only a few tenths of a percentage point, and there were periods when Spanish banks paid more than their European peers, notably during 2004–2006 to support a housing boom and again in 2007–2011 and 2012 amid the banking crisis. In recent months, the gap widened quickly, reaching about 1.65 percentage points in the euro area compared with 0.67 percentage points in Spain in January. This reflected Spanish banks leveraging abundant liquidity to avoid raising deposit returns, a move that also benefited loan pricing. (ECB; Bank of Spain)
With the ECB gradually withdrawing liquidity to damp inflation, Spanish banks began raising deposit rates again. The trend favors smaller and digital accounts more slowly than larger, traditional deposits. The process remains gradual because reduced credit demand means banks can rely on core liquidity. In public discussions, both the government and the central bank urged the sector to lift not only loan rates but also deposit rates. After banks raised the average rate by about 1.66 percentage points from January to July, August brought a modest downward adjustment. (ECB statements)
Household and business accounts
Support remains in place for households, a policy that has continued since 2016. Deposit fees for households remain lower than those for businesses, leading to a higher average yield on term deposits in August for the corporate segment, about 3.11%, roughly 0.8 percentage points above family deposits. Over time, the average yield on deposits (excluding new operations) stands at about 1.38% for households and 2.67% for companies. About 90% of individuals with bank accounts hold money in traditional accounts rather than term deposits, reflecting the distribution of liquidity preferences that emerged after the ECB’s negative-rate period in 2014. (ECB; Bank of Spain)
The rise in term-deposit yields in recent months saw August totals reach 97.908 million euros in new allocations to these savings products, with a 32,253 million euro increase versus the prior year and a 4.7% rise from July. The money held in existing accounts did not grow as strongly, dipping to 887.325 million euros as families redirected funds to higher-yield options such as Treasury bonds and mutual funds, or to cushioning inflation effects, including earlier mortgage repayments. Overall, the total funds saved in banks fell slightly compared with the previous year and month. (Bank of Spain)
Rising loan costs
On the lending side, mortgage rates in Spain rose modestly in August, to 3.86%, up from July and nearly double the level a year earlier (2.03%). This aligns with the euro-zone average, which climbed to about 3.85% for new mortgages—the strongest since August 2011. Spaniards facing mortgage debt now experience an average interest rate around 3.44%, about one percentage point higher than the euro-area average (2.31%). The month closed with a record high in bank lending to households, totaling 688.007 million euros, down 2.3% from a year earlier due to softer demand for credit as higher rates and inflation shrink purchasing power. Mortgage lending itself fell by around 3.2%, while other loan types showed minor gains. Specialized financing for firms declined further, as did overall private sector borrowing. (ECB; Bank of Spain)